I've just arrived in Athens and spent today immersed in images of the Madonna. On my last trip I loved awakening to the history of the divine feminine as she transformed over millennia from Isis and Aphrodisia in Turkey (ancient Asia Minor) to Aphrodite in Greece onto the Madonna of Christianity via the many forms of the goddess in Roman mythology.
Today I was delighted with rows of terraphims - magical talismans of fertility and sexuality that were common in the life of women nearly 6000 years ago. It is astonishing to see these forms, some as small as a coin to fit in a clenched fist or hide in the fold of a pocket. Some larger to adorn an altar and invoke the mysterious power of fecundity. For mysterious it was and for all our medical knowledge and modern understanding the magic of creativity is still a thing of mystery.
Today I was delighted with rows of terraphims - magical talismans of fertility and sexuality that were common in the life of women nearly 6000 years ago. It is astonishing to see these forms, some as small as a coin to fit in a clenched fist or hide in the fold of a pocket. Some larger to adorn an altar and invoke the mysterious power of fecundity. For mysterious it was and for all our medical knowledge and modern understanding the magic of creativity is still a thing of mystery.
5800 - 5300 BCE. A neolithic Madonna.
My journey in the next 5 months will take me through Greece and eventually to India. So often I am struck by the similarity of the Ancient Greek mythology and imagery to the gods and goddesses found all through modern India. Immersing in the images of Byzantine Madonnas I wonder at their lush red robes and the orange swathed baby Christ seated in their lap. They seem closer to the flaming devi of Durga than to the virginal representation later common to Christianity. I love the enduring presence of the divine feminine and feel hopeful that she will continue to re-emerge as a force of connection to nature.
Don't mess with me Madonna.
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